The Future of Conservatism*

British Conservatism embodies certain basic, though not always compatible, tenets of belief. They have underpinned the Conservative Party, which has been the most successful political party in the history of western Europe. The party was the ‘in’ party in British politics in the 20th Century; the reasons for that success shifted in the 21st century to it principal opponent party. Attempts by Conservative leaders in the first two parliaments of opposition constituted quick‐fix and ultimately doomed approaches to restoring electoral dominance. The party under David Cameron has shifted to a long‐term, grounded approach, learning the lessons of earlier periods of opposition. Though the process remains incomplete, the Conservative Party is placed for the first time in the 21st century to return to being a party of governance.     

美国社会的维护者:李普塞特社会保守主义思想论析

李普塞特是美国著名的政治学家和社会学家,也是新保守主义阵营的领军人物。在社会领域,他的保守主义思想主要表现为四个方面:对新社会运动的批判、对美国社会文化价值体系的推崇、对工人阶级的警惕和对中产阶级的推崇、对美国社会权威危机的担忧。总的来看,他维护现行的美国社会秩序和文化价值体系,对破坏现行秩序和价值的因素进行了揭示和批判。     

The Evolution of the Centre-right and the State of Scottish Conservatism

This article considers the decline of Scottish Conservatism, 1951–97. The statistical data indicate that 91 percent of the variance in Tory support is accounted for by an underlying negative trend against time, that similar patterns appear when the data is disaggregated by region, and that short-term fluctuations have been more in conformity with English results than is conventionally understood. The process of generational change is seen as a waning of the cultural conditions which produced the centre-right coalition that dominated Scottish politics, 1931–64, and its fragmentation into Conservatism, Liberalism, and Scottish Nationalism. The changed circumstances are not seen as peculiarly Scottish, but the consequences for Scottish Conservatism of an evolution affecting the centre-right across the United Kingdom.     

Conservatism and the rhetoric of rhetoric

There is currently a revival of the intellectual tradition of rhetoric as a reaction to modernism. Because of rhetoric’s links with conservatism, this revival’s own rhetoric needs to be examined. A revival of an aesthetic rhetoric could easily be backward-looking and draw upon the backward-looking, conservative traditions within the history of rhetoric. On the other hand, if the revival stresses the pragmatic features of rhetoric it might be seen either as an adornment to those skills of persuasive selling, encouraged today by pragmatic conservatism, or as a development of today’s science of persuasion. Despite the obvious links to romantic and to pragmatic conservatism, rhetoric does contain the possibility for a radical critique of modernism; this would unite aesthetics and pragmatism, form and style, and raise the image of free and unending argumentation.     

British Conservatism and the Problem of Ideology

This essay is concerned with one key problem, namely, whether traditionalist conservatism (mainly in the British tradition) can be considered as an ideology. Some conservative theorists and commentators, have clearly been at pains to distance it from the ideological domain. They argue that conservatism is a natural disposition which embodies the historical tradition, customs and prejudices of a society and cannot, in consequence, be articulated as a body of ideas and values. In this sense, Conservatism cannot be considered to be an ideology like liberalism or socialism. Despite the attraction of such a claim for many of its proponents there are a number of fatal flaws. After unpacking the argument behind the claim the paper contends that the dispositional interpretation (which is a central plank of much traditionalist conservatism) remains inchoate and unsubstantiated.     

Understanding UKIP: Identity,Social Change and the Left Behind

In this article we explore the structural shifts which help explain the emergence of UKIP as a major radical‐right political force in Britain. There are two distinct, but related, aspects to this story. The first is the changes to Britain's economic and social structure that have pushed to the margins a class of voters who we describe as the ‘left behind’: older, working‐class, white voters with few educational qualifications. The second is long‐term generational changes in the values that guide British society and shape the outlook of voters. These value shifts have also left older white working‐class voters behind, as a worldview which was once seen as mainstream has become regarded as parochial and intolerant by the younger, university‐educated, more socially liberal elites who define the political consensus of twenty‐first‐century Britain. We then move to consider the political changes that have further marginalised these voters, as first Labour and then the Conservatives focused their energies on recruiting and retaining support from middle‐class, moderate swing voters. Finally, we show how UKIP has developed into an effective electoral machine which looks to win and retain the loyalties of these voters. Finally, we discuss the longer‐term implications of the radical‐right revolt, which has the potential to change the nature of party competition in Britain in the 2015 election and beyond.     

The Politics of Contemporary Black Conservatism in the United States

At first sight, the themes associated with contemporary black conservatism appear to replicate the concerns of the American right more generally. However, although there are black conservative intellectuals and activists who draw on US constitutional tradition and neo-classical economics, others derive their politics from notions of racial solidarity. This form of black conservatism rests on particular constructions of black masculinity, and invokes images of a past age when black communities were both intact and stable. It regards integrationism with suspicion and hostility. However, it also offers a relatively optimistic vision of future developments that can be contrasted with the more constrained ambitions which characterise 'mainstream' American conservatism today.